Dear Proctor Family,
There are times in a school’s existence when a confluence of internal and external factors lead to a critical direction setting moment for the community. As I join Proctor for my first year as Head of School, I find myself stepping into one of those moments as we celebrate our faculty’s relentless work understanding and teaching metacognition to adolescents, watch the construction of the new Health and Well-Being Center, welcome Dr. Nancy Turkington as Proctor’s first Chief Medical Officer, and observe the ever-increasing complexity of challenges facing our students today.
Clarifying Proctor’s Why
In an independent school world that continues to warn of demographic cliffs and enrollment trends that keep most Boards of Trustees and Heads of School up at night, Proctor is seeing the opposite occur. Enrollment numbers break records each year, our acceptance rate has become more and more competitive, as has the hiring process for open positions. There is something intriguing about our remarkable little school charged with the stewardship of 2,500 acres in the Blackwater River Valley that is bucking every enrollment and employment trend facing schools across the country. My observation is that Proctor’s strength is rooted in our deep understanding of our “why”.
Every organization must ask itself why it exists. Each of us found Proctor for a reason - our individual “why” - yet when we set aside programmatic affinities, our collective why rests in our belief in the potential of young people. We believe growth happens best at the intersection of individualized academics and experiential opportunities within a strong, supportive community. We believe this environment is where our students begin to understand themselves as learners, where a foundation of confidence, trust, and relationships is built. We also know it is on this foundation our students build the rest of their lives. Our why is not the product we deliver, it is the humans we help shape.
A Generational Need to Support Teenagers
When teenagers understand themselves as learners, they can then begin to learn how to be well in this complicated world. It is clear that Proctor has always prioritized meeting students where they are, knowing how they learn, how to challenge them, and how to support them through both failure and success. This is an essential part of Proctor’s DNA. This moment, however, carries a unique urgency, because the world in which our students are growing up is more complex than it has ever been.
Our students carry significant burdens: the same global stressors we feel, but layered with a digital reality that shapes their journey in countless ways. Their lives play out online and constantly, with thousands of direct and indirect messages coming at them every day through their devices. Their relationship (and ours, as adults, for that matter) with technology is profoundly complex, and it is impacting their mental health and identity in ways we do not yet fully understand. What gives me immense hope and inspiration is Proctor itself: its model, its mission, and especially its faculty and students. Our students and faculty are eager to understand themselves. They are open, curious, courageous, and ready to take on meaningful challenges. Proctor’s approach, rooted in knowing how we learn and who we are as individuals, equips us for that work. Our role as educators is to continue giving all of us the tools and self-awareness to do so, not just academically, but as whole people.
The Path Forward: Proctor’s Pursuit of Metacognition and Well-Being
Taking a holistic view of student health and well-being requires deep trust, as well as systemic coordination among adults within the school community. Proctor believes marrying metacognition, physical health, mental health and wellbeing is best accomplished by intentionally connecting the amazing work done in each of these areas of our community. Proctor’s vision for connecting metacognition with well-being is just taking shape, but will include the following areas of focus:
Metacognition and the Adolescent Brain
Guided by our strategic plan, Proctor’s faculty and administration will continue to dive deeply into learning, sharing, and integrating the concept of metacognition (the understanding of how one's own brain learns and the use of this knowledge to build and refine individual learning strategies) into all areas of life at Proctor - in the classroom, on the athletic fields, in the art studio, in advisory groups, off-campus programs, and dormitories. This work is nearly a century old at Proctor (Proctor pioneered academic support in independent schools in the 1930s), and yet our understanding of the intersection of a student’s understanding of how their own brain works continues to evolve. Our faculty summer reading of Neuroteach by Glenn Whitman and Ian Kelleher will be foundational to the next chapter of this work over the coming years.
Integrating Health and Well-Being Services
As Proctor’s new Health and Well-Being Center is constructed over the next twelve months, internal work, led by our new Chief Medical Officer Dr. Nancy Turkington, will include refinement of our delivery of health services at Proctor so that we can ensure the absolute best care for our students. When the new Health and Well-Being Center opens in the Fall of 2026, all health services will live under one roof, providing new opportunities for collaboration and coordination of care.
Programming and Holistic Approach to Well-Being
Led by Dr. Turkington, in collaboration with our Student Well-Being Team, we will work to more deeply understand the challenges facing today’s teenagers, study the factors that lead to healthy students, and develop programming that is integrated across all areas of the school. This work will explore nutrition, physical activity, sleep, technology use, substance use, the influence of the natural world on wellbeing, and more!
The world needs Proctor to lead the way in connecting individual learning, shared educational experiences, and an integrated approach to health and well-being as a formula for teaching a generation of young people how to be well in the world. Imagine every young person leaving Proctor with a clearer understanding of what brings them energy, how their brain learns and manages emotions, what helps them fully engage in their surroundings, and how they navigate adversity. Knowing that each of our students will be better able to navigate the complexities of adolescence feeling known, valued, challenged, and deeply supported because of our shared work motivates me as we all work together to pursue our mission. This is the exciting work that is ahead of us.
Amy Smucker
Head of School
Read more about Health and Well-Being at Proctor!
- Head of School
- Health and Well-Being
- Learning and the Brain